Entertainment

An iPhone Calendar App for the Design-Oriented

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Quick Pitch: Diacarta™ allows you to map your day — unlike any other planner. Use icons to create a picture of your day.

Genius Idea: iPhone app Diacarta [iTunes link] is for those who want a planner with a little more visual appeal than the text-based Notes and Calendar apps available natively on the iPhone.

The app is handsome, intuitive and even easier to organize than the iPhone's Calendar app. Simply select a day on the calendar, click the "+" button to select from a library of more than 50 icons representing various activities, and drag it to the appropriate place on the clock. You can then double-tap the icon to add in event details and adjust the time. It's also easy to switch out icons at this point.

As you complete tasks, you can tap the "star" button to turn those icons into faded gray stars. You can also create tasks that will sit on the side of the screen, functioning as a to-do list you can check off throughout the day.

Swipe your finger across the screen to toggle between mornings and evenings and across days, or click on the calendar icon to select a day on a traditional monthly planner.

Diacarta was created by Jake and Georgia Yanchar, two former New York City lawyers who are now raising a family in Chardon, Ohio. Frustrated with the text-based planner apps for the iPhone, Jake decided to create an app that replicated the calendars he created in his moleskine notebook every day: doodles situated around a.m. and p.m. clocks representing each of the things he needed to get done.

Lacking the requisite skills to create an app, the pair worked with India-based software development company Wirkle to develop the app, and Cleveland-based graphic design/marketing firm Little Jacket to develop Diacarta over an 18-month period. The app is now available in the App Store for $1.99.

Jake says they hope to make future versions of the app available for Android and BlackBerry, and to make it possible to sync Diacarta with web-based and social media apps, as well as software-based planners. They would also like to offer customizable sets of icons — sets for working parents or medical students, for example.

I'd personally love to see a set for athletes (sadly, there's no running icon—although there are icons for hiking, swimming, weight-lifting, golfing, boating and even horseback riding) and editors/bloggers (surprise, surprise). It would also be nice to have push notifications to remind me about important appointments and phone calls.

What do you think of the app? How do you organize your calendar and/or to-do list on your mobile device?

Video Demo

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